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With Big East in bag, what's next for new Fox channel?

You had to have avoided the sports pages and web sites not to know what was finally announced Wednesday: Fox has TV rights to the new Big East. which it will largely feature on its upcoming Fox Sports 1 cable channel.

You had to have avoided the sports pages and web sites not to know what was finally announced Wednesday: Fox has TV rights to the new Big East. which it will largely feature on its upcoming Fox Sports 1 cable channel.

"If I don't do the Big East, I'm going to have to take down (Fox executives) jujitsu style!," Fox play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson told USA TODAY Sports days before Tuesday's announcement. "That's got me written all over it."

There's a viral video we'll never see. As Johnson hosted Fox's announcement in New York of its 12-year, $500 million deal with the Big East that could increase to $600 if the league adds two more teams, he simply beamed. No wonder: He'll be the lead announcer when Fox next year inherits a marquee event from ESPN -- the Big East Conference tournament at Madison Square Garden.

But in mounting the largest frontal assault on ESPN in the 21st-century, even as broadcast networks NBC and CBS are now more aggressive with their general-interest sports cable channels, FS1 is still facing plenty of key questions.

What's ahead for FS1, which launches Aug. 17?

The fine print

Fox says it will dish off some proven TV draws -- like NASCAR Sprint Cup racing and MLB playoff action -- from the broadcast network to FS1. But how much? Fox hasn't said yet.

The flash point

The FS1-ESPN rivalry won't be David vs. Goliath.

FS1, which will replace Fox's Speed Channel, will start in at least 90 million TV households -- not that far behind the 99 million for both ESPN and ESPN2.

And even before its Big East announcement Tuesday, FS1 had lined up some pretty high-profile college sports -- such as Pac-12 and Big 12 football -- as well as regular-season MLB games, the 2018 World Cup and of UFC mixed-martial arts. Fox figures it will start with about 55% live programming, including studio shows -- which isn't light years behind ESPN's 73% live programming.

So think of the FS1-ESPN faceoff as more like trench warfare -- Fox top executive David Hill suggests it will take 2-3 years of "a slog" to "knock off" ESPN. But there will be at least one obvious flashpoint: Highlight shows at 11 p.m. ET

There, the new Fox Sports Live will take on ESPN's flagship SportsCenter in a nightly mano-a-mano -- where it won't matter who paid millions of dollars for the TV rights to various sports events.

If FS1 just presents a watered-down version of SportsCenter, viewers will probably stick with the original.

So, will Fox bring a new look at feel to highlight shows?

And who will be its stars? Just raiding ESPN's rosters -- as Fox did when it signed Keith Olbermann for a short-lived national sports programming in the 1990s -- would prove less-than-inspiring.

Spend more big bucks

ESPN saw the challenges coming from FS1 and other sports channels and locked various big-time sports into long-term TV rights deals.

The exception is the NBA. Its ongoing deals with ESPN/ABC and TNT end after the 2015-2016 season, when it could be in the middle of a bidding war between the networks.

Is Fox ready to spend big to put LeBron James in a starring role on FS1?

The intangibles

Fox has said it will greatly expand its use of so-called double-box coverage, in which split-screens can keep showing event action even as commercials air.

Fox pioneered TV sports hits and misses ranging from making pucks glow in the NHL to continuously showing the game clock during NFL action.

Can FS1 come up with attention-grabbing innovations? Or just try to hype new gimmicks?